1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to monetization of the presentation of video material to viewers.
2. Description of the Background
TV programming and videos are an integral part of daily life; examples include nightly news, movies, comedy shows, drama shows, reality TV, musicals, a movie on a DVD, YouTube etc. (collectively referred from hereon as Programs). Videos can also be viewed over the internet, some are streaming and others are retrieved and displayed. With the advent of YouTube, growth in wireless bandwidth, wider usage of smart phones, tablets, other wireline and wireless devices, smart TVs, state of the art gaming consoles etc. the conventional definitions have somewhat blurred among various delivery mechanisms. The same holds true for viewing devices. Most videos are monetized in the form of the revenue generated via the advertisements while some are supported by subscription services such as Hulu, Netflix and others. Historically, advertisements generally appear at the beginning, and often in the middle of a video and sometimes at the end as well. In the case of on-line viewing, a viewer can typically click on the ad and he(s)he is taken to a landing page of the advertiser, whereas in the case of watching TV, the ads are not clickable by the viewer even though many TV sets are directly or indirectly connected to internet these days.
Limitations of the Existing Systems
Consider a popular sitcom today: there are one or more entities involved in the effort of making it available for consumer viewing, such as producers of the show, TV Networks such as ABC/CBS/NBC, distribution channels such as Cable, Fiber, Satellite companies and wireless networks, Internet service providers, subscription based services such as HBO, online delivery companies such as Netflix, on-line video providers, and local stations (a combination of one or more such entities are collectively referred from hereon as Content Provider). The primary means to monetize such programming are advertisements (also referred to as ads) and the revenue so derived is typically shared among Content Providers. In general the ads are shown prior to the show starting, during the show and towards the end of the show. However, the content part of the show remains largely un-monetized.
The above mentioned sitcom for example can be viewed these days by a viewer on-line or otherwise, on TV, or a tablet such as an iPad, or a computer, or a smart phone, or a video game console, and many other wireline or wireless devices collectively referred as Viewing Devices.
Content Related Limitations
Consider an example of a viewer watching The Bachelor, a reality TV show competition; a participant's dress catches her eye. The viewer is interested in learning more about the dress and its availability for purchase, but she has no easy way to find out. She only knows what it looks like, but she doesn't know its designer, price, and where it is available online, or in a store near her. Another example is of Modern Family, a popular sitcom on ABC network. One of the characters is playing a guitar in a particular scene (more specifically in a frame or a sequence of frames) and a viewer likes the guitar and wants to learn more about it; unfortunately, here too the viewer has no easy way to find the relevant information. The same applies to many other products (please note that “product” and “service” are used interchangeably herein) in a scene, such as shoes worn by a cast member, a wedding dress, a handbag, a car, a chair in the background, a decorative piece on the wall, a model of a cell phone or an app that a character uses to perform a task and so on. A typical option for a viewer will be to search on an internet connected device (could be wireless or wireline) and hope that the information is available since unfortunately, hardly any information is available for most such Objects (Object is a broad term that could be product, service, location, human, animal, plant, and fictional variations thereof, and so on). To learn more also requires effort on the part of the viewer to search, examine the results and painfully sift through them to find the relevant information assuming that it is even available.
This current challenge is compounded further when the viewer may not want to stop watching, but remains interested in learning about the Object(s) of interest such as dress(es) and/or shoe(s). In that case, he or she will have to either vividly remember the details, or take time to make a note about the Object and its description and perform the search later. If a product specifics are unknown, as that may be the case for most Objects, it may be quite difficult and frustrating, if not nearly impossible, to learn more. Another alternative is to record the Program for example on a DVR, and go back and find the desired frame containing the Object(s) later. Yet another alternative is to find the Program on-line later (assuming it's available), find the right frame, and then take notes.
Another example of an unfulfilled desire of a viewer would be if the viewer likes Kim Kardashian's hairstyle while watching the popular show Keeping up with the Kardashians and would like to know instantaneously how to recreate that specific hairstyle, the name of the hair style, which styling products were used and hair color. Unfortunately, it will be nearly impossible to find out immediately since such information is generally not available for days, if not weeks or months.
Consider another example when a viewer watches a movie and a beautiful golf course is seen in the backdrop. The viewer would love to find out which golf course is shown, where it is located, the course architect's name, the course's history, and any tournaments that have been played there and so on. However, he or she faces the same problem as described in previous paragraphs, which is the lack of information availability.
In yet another scenario, a gorgeous beach is the backdrop of a music video and a viewer would like to plan a trip to the beach with his wife on their anniversary. The viewer is interested in knowing more about the beach's location, the travel options, how expensive it is, what the lodging facilities are and so on. It's highly unlikely that he would be able to find such information without extensive efforts.
Sometimes while watching a Program one merely wishes to learn more about the subject being discussed. The viewer may not want to actually buy anything. For example, a viewer may be watching a Program on The History Channel about World War I and the viewer wishes to learn more about one of the generals shown or a battle tactic used. Today they must remember the name of whatever interested them, the context, and then search for it later. This is not only time consuming, but they are also unable to take away as much from the Program and the viewer's desire to learn is partially thwarted.
Another example, a viewer watches Arrested Development Season 4 on Netflix and watches Buster Bluth, one of the characters, eating a cupcake; the viewer is interested in that cupcake and would like to find out if it is available locally or if he can order it. Unfortunately, the viewer will have to conduct an independent search and the odds are low that he will be able to find it.
During an hour long prime time TV program, 40 minutes are typically for content and 20 minutes are for conventional ads. Thus, two thirds of the viewing time during a Program is not monetized for the most part. (In the case of on-line video viewing, the ratio of content time over advertisement time varies widely; however, the basic challenge of non-monetization of content remains the same). This inability to provide relevant information and/or consummate one or more transactions in response to a viewer's interest in one or more Objects in one or more frames, results in severely constraining additional sources of revenue for the Content Providers. The manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, information providers, distributers, and/or service providers of the Objects (collectively referred as Merchants) are also deprived of a potential customer. Continuing with the examples above, In spite of viewers' interests in dress worn by a participant in The Bachelor, or a guitar or a handbag in Modern Family, or hair style on Keeping Up with Kardashians, or a cupcake in Arrested Development, or a golf course in a movie, or a gorgeous beach in a music video, neither the Content Developer nor the corresponding Merchants benefit and are therefore deprived of a massive opportunity.
Despite providing likable and relevant Objects in a Program, a very large percentage of Object providing Merchants in the Program do not advertise or cannot afford to advertise during conventional ad time slots and unfortunately remain disconnected with the viewers and fail to capitalize in the form of direct potential feedback and/or transactions. To make matters worse, an Object's relevance to viewers typically diminishes over time, for example, a cell phone may no longer be available when a rerun of an episode is shown two years later. Furthermore, such Merchants not only remain unaware, but are also unable to target or follow-up with interested viewers with their respective product(s).
One of the most popular video viewing sites is YouTube; video providers place their video here and when a viewer watches said video, Google monetizes it by inserting ads before, during or sometimes at the end of the video. Generally the video provider does not share in the revenue derived by the advertising. For example, an amateur moviemaker uploads his/her short film on YouTube in hope of attracting many viewers, and has decent success; even then, while the video will get branding and recognition, there will be no direct monetary benefit to the movie maker. Thus many talented individuals, groups, and small companies are unfortunately deprived of payments on their successful content creation.
Advertisements Related Limitations:
There are many similarities and some differences in the limitations between conventional TV/video advertising as opposed to on-line advertising. The principal difference is that during on-line viewing an advertisement can be clicked.
Conventional TV/Video Advertising Related Limitations:
Time slots are sold to various advertisers in the advertising segment of a Program. However, the Objects within the frame(s) of each such advertisement remain flat since no additional information is specifically available about any Object. Consider a case in which, the well-known department store, such as Macy's, is advertising a large sale and a frame contains various clothing items and appliances. A dressy shirt catches a viewer's eye in particular, but, to learn more about it, she has to independently go to the Macy's site online at that moment, or later (requiring that the specifics are remembered by the viewer) and search through all the shirts on the website. A time consuming effort indeed to find the specific Object of interest. Furthermore, she can make a trip to Macy's, but there is no way of knowing, if that shirt will be on the floor in the Macy's store she chooses to go to. So the viewer is frustrated and Macy's also lost a customer.
Another widely known difficulty is that many viewers record their Programs of interest and fast-forward the ads which diminishes the expected impact of such ads and reduces the ROI (Return on Investment) for the advertisers. The fast forwarding has also made measurement of an ad's viewership much more difficult to determine. Some efforts have been made to force viewers to watch the ads by not allowing them to fast forward, but these have not had much success.
Another challenge is that the ads may change between conventional TV viewing and on-line viewing. For example a viewer watches Saturday Night Live (SNL) on his TV when it first airs, and saw an ad of a man's cologne that interests him, but continued watching the show and forgot the cologne's name. When he goes online to review the episode of SNL the next day on the NBC website to look for that cologne, the advertisements are different and the viewer is unable to capitalize on his interest and is disappointed and/or frustrated. The Merchants also miss out on this monetization opportunity.
Another challenge is that the advertising during a Program is determined by the advertisers on the basis of aggregated viewer demographics and its suitability to one or more of their business goals. However, the ads shown are largely disconnected from the content of the show itself. For example, an analogous situation would be an individual who goes to the Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. After going through the exhibits and the whole museum, the individual goes to the gift shop. At the gift shop all the products being sold are unrelated to Air and Space; the products are an eclectic mix of items from all categories instead.
Yet another limitation is that the advertisers for each slot are determined in advance and have no ability to pick and choose a viewer in real-time based on his/her unique profile (or profile of a small group of viewers, such as a family, watching together).
To summarize, similar to Merchants, the advertisers also are quite constrained as there is no direct measurable viewer feedback during or immediately after the Program. The advertiser also does not have the ability to go back and access the interested viewers through other available channels.
The above described limitations are persistent regardless of whether the Program is being aired for the first time or it's a rerun. For example, a 4-year-old rerun of a popular comedy Big Bang Theory on another TV channel would have different ads than the ones shown during its original broadcast and the monetization in general through the new ads is lower.
Similar limitations exist for example when a DVD (a generic term used for DVD, Blue Ray disc, and other such media) of a movie is sold to a consumer. Generally there are no ads in middle of such a program although it may have ads at the beginning or end. There are two challenges with such an advertising strategy. First, the ads get stale with time and may no longer be relevant. For example, an ad for a winter coat while the movie is watched in middle of summer, or, even worse, three years later when the merchant may have gone out of business. The second challenge is that ads at the beginning or end are usually skipped. Thus, the ads in this case generate little revenue, if any, for the Content Provider and the selling price of said DVD is the only means of monetization. The above also applies to other applications such as video game cartridges or video game DVDs.
The challenges are even more acute for Content Providers such as HBO who do not show any ads in return for charging a subscription fee, which becomes their only means of monetization. Those providing on-demand TV or pay per view also suffer from similar challenges.
On-Line Video Advertisement Related Limitations:
On-line viewing also largely suffers from the same difficulties although there are some differences. Specifically, during on-line viewing, unlike the content, an advertisement can be clicked and the viewer is able to go to a landing page; however, the viewer may still be forced to do his/her own search to find the specific Object of interest in the ad which may not always be the Product advertised. Consider an example in which a movie is being advertised to a viewer in middle of watching an on-line video. The viewer may not be interested in the movie, but is interested in a boat that is in one or more frames of the ad, yet the viewer has no recourse except an independent search that may or may not provide the answer.
When an on-line viewer clicks on an ad frame and taken to a landing page, the Objects within the frame(s) still suffer from the same limitation as above. Continuing with the example of Macy's, which is advertising a large sale and a frame contains various clothing items and appliances. A dressy shirt catches a viewer's eye in particular and her click leads her to a landing page. Unfortunately, she still has no easy way to find the shirt without browsing through almost countless options—a time consuming effort. Alternatively, she can make a trip to Macy's, but there is no way of knowing, if that shirt will be on the floor in the Macy's she chooses to go to. The result is that the viewer has frustrating experience and Macy's also lost an opportunity to sale. To summarize, viewers, Merchants, Content Providers and advertisers all suffer from the serious limitations as outlined above.
In general, the content of the video itself, such as a TV sitcom, whether viewed on-line or on TV remains largely un-monetized, and the conventional advertisements are the major means for revenue generation. As an example, a 30-minute show may have 20 minutes of content and 10 minutes of advertising. The 20 minutes of content is largely un-monetized. What is needed is a solution that substantially enhances the monetization of such videos and TV programming, recent and vintage.